Mailing piece



A. J. WOOD MAILING PIECE June 11, 1963 Fild April 30, 1962 INVENTOR.

ALBA-797' .1. W000 QpZZ/QM ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,093,296 MAILING PIECE Albert J. Wood, 300 (ilrchid Way, Merion, Pa. Filed Apr. 30, 1962, Ser. No. 191,091 1 Claim. (Cl. 229-928) This invention relates to a mailing piece, and more particularly to a mailing piece having a plurality of sections adapted to be folded into a packet.

The mailing piece of the present invention is adapted to be mailed to a potential customer in the form of a packet. The packet includes a plurality of sections interconnected together by a fold line or perforation line. One of the sections may contain advertising matter and the like. Another section may have one or more loops of perforation lines defining a portion thereof Which may be readily punched out. Preferably, the last mentioned section has two such loops thereby defining two punch-out portions of a size which facilitates placement of the portions in a wallet or the like.

The mailing piece preferably contains one or more cards which are adapted to be filled out by the customer and returned to the sender. Hence, the cards or sections to be filled out and returned to the sender are adapted to be readily removable from the remainder of the sections of the mailing piece. The sections of the mailing piece which are to be returned, are preferably designed so that the customer need only fill in the blanks on the sections, fold over a tab and adhesively secure the same to one of the sections, and then mail the same. A stamp and the address of the original sender will have been provided on the sections which are to be returned.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel mailing piece structurally interrelated in a manner so as to induce potential customers to fill out and return the same.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel mailing piece which is simple and requires a minimum amount of effort on the part of the receiver thereof.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel mailing piece having sections for accommodating advertising and extraneous matter and separable sections which are adapted to be returned to the sender.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and, accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the mailing piece in accordance with the present invention, With the same being illustrated in its open disposition.

FIGURE 2 is a partial perspective view of the mailing piece of the present invention as it is mailed to the customer.

FIGURE 3 is a partial perspective View of the mailing piece of the present invention as it is returned from the customer to the sender.

Referring to the drawing in detail, wherein like numerals indicate like elements, there is shown in FIGURE 1 a mailing piece designated generally as it).

The mailing piece is preferably made from thin semi-stiff cardboard or the like. The mailing piece 10 includes a first section 12 and a second section 14 interconnected along a side edge by a fold line 16. The fold line 16 is preferably a scored line to facilitate easy folding by use of mechanical apparatus.

The second section 14 is preferably provided with one or more closed loops of perforation lines. Hence, section 14 is illustrated in FIGURE 1 as having a closed loop 18 of perforation lines and a closed loop 22 of perice foration lines. Loop 18 defines a removable portion 20. Loop 22. defines a removable portion 24.

The removable portions 20 and 24 are preferably of the size which facilitates placing the portions in ones wallet. Any one of a wide variety of different types of information may be placed on the removable sections 20 and 24. For example, portion 20 may be provided with printed matter thereon to remind a husband of the birthday and anniversaries together with the various sizes of clothing worn by his wife. Comparable information may be provided on the portion 24 for use by a wife. On the reverse side of the portions 20 and 24, advertising information and the name, address and phone number of the sender may be located thereon to remind the customer of the name of the original sender of the card thereby tending to induce the customer to purchase any of his requirements therefrom.

A third section 28 is integral with and separated from section 14 by means of a perforation line 26. Section 28 is integral with and separated from a fourth section 30 by means of a score line 32. All of the sections 12, 14, 23 and 30 are identical in size. A side edge portion of section Iili is parallel to the score line 32 and terminates in a integral tab 34. The surface of the tab 34- exposed in FIGURE 1 is coated with a water activated adhesive.

The mailing piece 10* is folded in the disposition illustrated in FIGURE -2. when it is mailed to a customer. Surface 36 of section 23 will have a stamp 40 placed thereon in the upper right-hand corner and the address of the customer is indicated by lines E2.

The mailing piece Ill may be retained in the folded disposition illustrated in FIGURE 2 by means of gummed tabs extending across side edges thereof. Alternatively, the mailing piece It} may be processed through a pressurized roller which applies sufiicient pressure and/or heat to activate an adhesive which will maintain the mailing piece It in its assembled disposition. Alternatively, the mailing piece It) may be disposed within an addressed envelope. Upon receipt of the mailing piece 10, the customer may punch out the portions 20 and 24. The customer, such as a person desiring a charge account with a particular store, may then fill out the blanks on the surface 38 of section 23 and the illustrated surface on section 3% in FIGURE 1. Thereafter, the customer may separate sections 14 and 23 along the perforation line 26.

The glue on tab 34 may then be activated so that the tab 34 may extend over the free edge of section 28 and be adhesively secured to the surface 36 as illustrated in FIGURE 3. It will be noted that the tab 34 has sufficient length so that it substantially obscures the stamp 40. The tab 34 does not have sufiicient length to obscure the lines 42. Hence, the addressee of the mailing piece as illustrated in FIGURE 3 will always have a permanent record of the sender thereof as well as any code numbers associated therewith. The surface of section 39 opposite from that illustrated in FIGURE 1 will be provided with an address and a stamp before the mailing piece 1t has been forwarded to the customer.

Thus, it will be seen that the customer need only tear the mailing piece 10 along the perforation line 26, fill out the blank on the surface of the sections 28 and 3t illustrated in FIGURE 1, fold over tab 34 and adhesively secure the same to surface 36 on section 28, and then drop the same into a mailbox. The provision of the removable portions 20 and 24 is a benefit to the customer since it provides a handy reminder for dates, sizes, dimensions, etc. At the same time, the removable portions 20 and 24 provide a reminder to a customer of the services available by a particular establishment, and thus serves as an advertising piece. Section 12. is strictly an advertising or informational section and may be eliminated if desired.

The present invention may be embodied in other spe- 3 cific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and, accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claim, rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention.

I claim:

A mailing piece comprising first and second integral sections interconnected by a perforation line, said first section having perforations thereon defining a removable portion, a third section integral with said second section, a fold line between said second and third sections, said sections being the same size, said second and third sections having blanks on one surface thereof which are adapted to be filled in by a. customer, an opposite surface of said second section containing the address of the customer and any code numbers associated therewith, an opposite surface of said third section having the address of the sender of the mailing piece, and a tab having a gummed surface, said tab being integral with and extending from said third section, said gummed surface being adapted to be juxtaposed to said opposite surface of said second section after said first section has been separated from said second section by tearing along the perforation line, a fourth section connected to said first section by a fold line, said fourth section being of the same size as said first, second and third sections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 776,560 Smith Dec. 6, 1904 2,270,455 Lichter Jan. 20, 1942 2,723,078 Tilly Nov. 8, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 597,347 Great Britain Ian. 23, 1948 

